Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC July 29, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1779)
Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 256/544-0031)
Barron Beneski
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA
(Phone: 703/406-5528)
RELEASE: 98-136
X-34 COMPLETES CRITICAL MILESTONE
The first wing assembly for NASA's X-34 technology
demonstrator has completed qualification tests and has been
shipped to the prime contractor, Orbital Sciences Corporation,
Dulles, VA, where it has been mated to the X-34 test article under
construction there.
Integration of the wing assembly with the test article
fuselage marks a major milestone in the program. Flights of the
air-launched X-34 are scheduled to begin next year in conjunction
with flights of its larger and more advanced sister ship, the X-
33.
The newly qualified X-34 wing assembly, intended for flight,
has been installed, initially, on a full-scale X-34 test article
at Orbital. The test article will be used for X-34 verification
and certification. This first wing assembly will ultimately fly
aboard one of two flight vehicles also under construction at
Orbital.
The sub-orbital X-34 and X-33 vehicles will demonstrate key
technologies -- at high speeds and high altitudes -- leading
toward the development of full scale, commercially operated
reusable launch vehicles after the turn of the century. The
ultimate objective of these efforts is to dramatically reduce the
cost of placing payloads into space.
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